How a grocery store owner 'recharged' his life
A little bit of creative thinking has allowed Abul Kashem to earn a steady livelihood from a business he set up at Roumari upazila Bazar in the northern Bangladesh district of Kurigram.
Kashem set up an outlet at the local bazar to provide mobile phone recharging services to people from nearby villages who do not have power supplies in their homes. He sits in an open space of the banana market area in the bazar from 10:00am to 11:00pm every day providing this service.
Every day, an average of 90 people charge their mobile phones at Kashem's outlet where he can provide up to 250 charging points at the same time.
Each mobile phone takes around two to three hours to fully charge its battery and Kashem charges 5 Taka per phone for this service. This way he earns around 350 to 450 taka every day.
“I set up my outlet by using power from the electricity supply connection at Badol Shah's shop in the banana market. I pay him 50 taka daily for this service,” said Kashem.
Abul Kashem, 35, son of late Elahi Bakash of Naodapara village in Roumari upazila used to run a grocery store before he came up with this idea to earn more money.
Rural people who have no electricity power supply in their houses are his main customers. They charge their phones once every two days or so.
“This business is now the only source of my income and I can maintain my family of eight -- my mother, wife, five children and myself -- with my earnings,” he said.
Kashem recently talked to The Daily Star when he set up a shop temporarily in Kurigram town for four days. He set up his outlet near a mini Tablighi Ijtema held in Kurigram Government College ground late last year.
“I earned about 1,000 taka a day here after paying the people from whom I borrowed a power supply line. I also gave a servicing identity card with my contact number to each customer when the customers handed in their phone sets,” he said.
So how did Kashem come up with this innovative way to set up a business?
“I was a small grocery shopkeeper at Roumari bazar. I was not making enough money from my business at that time. While I sat in my shop, I noticed fellow villagers coming regularly to the bazar to re-charge their mobile phones. This gave me the idea,” he said.
“At first I made a 100-point-charging set which I have now expanded to 250 points. I think this a lucrative business idea in all places where many people do not have power supply at their houses. Anyone can earn a regular income from doing what I do!” he said.
(US$1 = 79.54 taka)
